By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Day 1 of the second stage of the World Cup Qualifiers was completed Friday (14/9) and in a manner similar to Thursday’s games there were some major upsets in store.
The victory of Ukraine against previously undefeated Spain stands out as one of the day’s surprises while Croatia’s loss at home to Lithuania also can be considered as such given how much important this game was for the hosts. Also, speaking of road wins, Hungary also pulled off a great performance to beat the Netherlands.
When it comes to home teams, Latvia and Turkey let their superior quality do the talking against Slovenia and Montenegro respectively. Such was also the case for Italy vs. Poland.
Let’s take a look at the players who were protagonists for their teams in these results.
Svi Mykhailiuk (Ukraine)
Spain came into Round 2 with a perfect 6 – 0 record and looked pretty much ready to extend it. “No way,” said Svi Mykhailiuk. In his return to the Ukrainian national team, the new L.A.Lakers forward delivered 22 points, five steals, three rebounds, and three assists to put a “stop” to the run of the Spanish side and bring a win to his squad that shakes things a bit in Group I.
Amedeo Della Valle (Italy)
While he wasn’t present in the national team’s training camp mainly due to physical recovery reasons, Amedeo Della Valle looked absolutely locked and loaded vs. Poland: 8 (out of 111) threes for 28 points plus three rebounds that resulted to a victory for the “Azzurri.”